-^ @^^<5ticr) '©paL^^p. ^ 



CLARIFIED CIDER. 



495. Sir, — Would you please tell me through the Canadian HoRTict'LTrRiST how 

 cider is prepared to remain sweet. It is called clarified cider and comes here from Ontario, 



I. N. Hurt, Ke-vric/c Ixidy, N. B. 



Had our correspondent given us the name of the manufacturer of the 

 article referred to, we might answer him more fully. Cider is often kept sweet 

 by the addition of salicylic acid, which substance, however, is injurious to 

 the health. It is also sometimes bottled in the same way that fruit is canned 

 and thus kept from fermentation. Clarified cider, as usually sold in our mar- 

 kets, is not perfectly sweet. It has'undergone partial fermentation until about 

 one-third or one-half of the natural sugar in the cider is converted into alcohol, 

 as shown by the use of a hydrometer. It should then be clarified either by 

 fermentation or by the use of isinglass. In the latter case it is carefully 

 racked from the sediment into clean casks and isinglass added to clarify 

 it. The solid matter in the solution adheres to the latter substance. 

 When it is clear, it is again racked from the precipitated isinglass into clean 

 casks and tightly bunged. Some advise bottling the cider the following spring ; 

 others say that it should be kept a couple of years before bottling. Half 

 barrels for holding cider suit the grocery trade, and, where bottles are used, 

 the best sizes are pints and quarts. 



THE MOONSEED CUMBER. 



496. Sin, — I enclose you a portion of a climbing plant, quite common on my farm. 

 What is its name, and is it poisonous? Two or three cases of poisoning, similar to that 

 from poison ivy, have apparently resulted from handling and cutting it in harvest time. 



\V., Grimsby. 



Reply by Prof. Fletcher. 



The pretty climber enclosed in your letter is the Moon-seed (Menispermum 

 Canadense). The flowers of the male plants are sometimes freely produced, 

 and, together with the elegant foliage, render this climber well worthy of culti- 

 vation. I do not know that it is actually poisonous, but the family contains 

 climbing shrubs which are common in the woods of tropical Asia and America, 

 which are noted for their bitter and narcotic qualities. 



Jateorhiza palmata, a plant with the habit of Bryony, supplies the well- 

 known drug called " columba-root." Cissn mpelos Pareira gw&s "Pareira brava.' 

 The celebrated berries called '' Cocculus Indicus" are the produce oi Anamiria 

 paniculata. 



(361) 



